Screen-door attachment.



J. B. JOHNSON. SCREEN DOOR ATTAUHMENT. APPLICATION FILED we. 8, m1.

Patentd May 7, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

'INVENTOR .=/022i/022J0/2 fiezi By man/ Era J. B. JOHNSON. SCREEN DOOR ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1911.

Patented May 7, 1912.

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WITNESSES I I. 4 MENTOR fiz yk v I {0?221 cfflgfldiO Anon/ Era JOHN EMIL JOHNSON, or BRAINERD, MINNESOTA.

SCREEN-DOOR ATTACHMENT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN EMIL JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, and a. resident of Brainerd, in the county of Crow Wing and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Screen-Door Attachment, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an attachment for screen doors, and is especially adapted to be connected to the top of the door and to the top of the door casing, whereby when the door is opened, the entrance of flies into a room may be prevented.

An object of my invention is to provide a new and useful attachment for screen doors, which attachment is made up of a number of supporting rods of similar construction together with a suitable flexible material carried by the rods, said attachment being engaged by the screen door and the door casing, so that when the door is opened the attachment will be expanded, coming back into folded position when the door is closed.

A further object of my invention is to provide an attachment of the class described, which will consist of few parts, which'may be produced at low cost, and which will be eflicient in its operation.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing my attachment in position; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the position of the supporting rods when the door is open; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the bearing member; Fig. 41 is a partial sectional view through the casing and door, showing the attachment in folded position; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the attachment removed from the door; Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6--6 of Fig. 5, showing the method of securing the rods to the flexible material; and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the rod carried by the casing.

My device is adapted to be positioned adjacent the top of any suitable screen door 1 and easing 2, the device being made up of a plurality of similar rods 3 together with a piece of suitable material 4 secured to the rods.

A suitable bearing. member 5 secured to one side of the screen door in any suitable Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 8, 1911.

Patented May '7 1912. Serial No. 643,028.

manner, is provided with a number of alined openings 6 in the upper and lower portions 7 and 8 thereof, the supporting rods 3 beingdesigned to be rotatably supported in these openings. A suitable rod 9 is secured at its ends to the inside of the door 1, and another rod 10, preferably of the shape shown in Fig. 7, is secured to the top of the casing 2, so that when the door is closed, this rod 10 will be adjacent the rod 9, a rod 11 similar to the rod 9 being secured to the top of the casing 2 and closely adjacent the rod 10. r

The upper part of my attachment is composed of any suitable flexible material 12, such as cloth, netting or the like, and is preferably of rectangular shape and pro vided with a plurality of folds 13, within which the rods 3, 9 and 11 are adapted to be engaged, each of these folds being preferably formed by stitching the material as particularly shown in Fig. 6. If so desired, the edges of the material may be hemmed in order to present apleasing appearance, but such is not essential.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be noted that each of the rods 3 is provided with an offset end 14, which ends are adapted to engage in the bearing 5, the other ends of these rods lying preferably in the same plane as the fixed rods 9 and 11, the material 12 being secured to the rods as shown in Fig. 1, so that when the door is opened, the device presents a fan-like appearance.

In opening the-door 1, the flies which are outside of the room seldom enter through the bottom or side portions of the door opening because of the person passing through. The top of the door opening, however, provides an unobstructed entrance. With my device, when the door is opened, the flies which generally congregate around the top of the door because of the warmer and stiller air, will be prevented from entering the room because of my attachment. The device is adapted to fold up closely and neatly when the door is closed, as shown particularly in Fig. 4, the rod 10 carried by the top of the door casing affording a convenient stop against which the plaits or folds of the material 12 will abut in order to hold them closely and regularly together within the casing.

The device is adapted for attachment to doors which open from either side, and may be attached to any swinging door of any size, and the materials of which the various parts of the attachment may be varied at will and in order to suit individual taste without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent An attachment of the class described comprising a plurality of rods of similar con struction and each provided with an ofl'set end, a bearing having opposite end port-ions provided with a number of openings in which the said oflset ends of the rods engage, the bearing being adapted to be secured to a door casing adjacent the top thereof, a quantity of suitable flexible material engaging each of the said rods, a rod adapted to be secured to the door adjacent the top of the casing, one end of the said material being secured to the rod, another rod adapted to be secured to the top of the casing adjacent the said bearing, the other end of the said flexible material being secured to the said rod, the top of the casing being also provided with a rod extending downwardly therefrom against which the folds of the said material are adapted to engage when the door is closed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN EMIL JOHNSON.

Witnesses J. H. KREKELBERG, J12, GUSTAV HALVQRsON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

* Washington, D. G. 

